Scots Sweep Gorlocks on Friday

Monmouth has won four in a row

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/23/2023) — The Monmouth College volleyball team used a balanced attack to sweep Webster University 25-17, 25-20, 26-24 in a non-conference home match on Friday. The Scots (5-8) have won four matches in a row with one more on the schedule before Midwest Conference play begins next weekend.

The first set went back and forth with neither team leading by more than two in the first 20 points as there were eight ties and six lead changes. Monmouth got a sideout to even the set at 10-10 and then won six straight points on the serve of Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois). Webster had five attack errors in that run before Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) got a kill for the 16-10 lead. Teams traded points as Monmouth led 20-14 before getting kills from Russell and Wright to go up 23-15. Russell closed out the set with her second kill for a 25-17 set win.

"Our goal today was to not start slow like we did on Tuesday and we did what we needed to do early," said head coach Derrick Broekemier. "We always talk about serving tough and making the defense make a decision and that worked tonight."

Webster came out swinging in the second set to build a 5-1 lead and Monmouth called a timeout down 7-2. Out of the timeout, Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) and Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) had consecutive kills and Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) had an ace.. Russell cut the deficit to one at 8-7 before Webster got a sideout. The Scots took a lead at 10-9 but Webster tied the set again with a kill and went on top 12-11 with an ace. Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) and Wright combined on a block to tie the set. On the serve of Wright, Monmouth won six points in a row to go on top 18-12. Both teams went on mini-runs and the Scots led 21-19 when Wright got a kill and Nizzia's ace led to a Webster timeout.

"We were balanced tonight with our hitting and our pins and we focus every day on serve receiving and getting the side out and we didn't have a set below 60% sideout tonight," said Broekemier.

Nizzia led the Scots with 10 kills while Wright had nine, Russell had eight and Dybal had seven. Both Robertson and Hill had 14 assists and Robinson added five. Hill had two of Monmouth's five aces and added 10 digs. Wright led four Scots in double-digit digs with 15 while Nizzia had 13 and Robinson had 10. CeCe Palladino (Volo, Illinois) and Robertson had solo blocks while Robertson and Wright had block assists.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Nizzia hit .300 for the match while Russell hit .292. The Scots had better than 60% side out in all three sets. The match had 22 ties and 11 lead changes. Nizzia had a 13-dig, 10-kill double-double, her second of the season. She also had 10 kills against St. Mary's (Mn.) on Sept. 16. Robinson had a season and career-high five assists. Hill tied her season and career high with two aces. The last two matches between Monmouth and Webster went five sets. The Scots play six of seven matches at home through Oct. 6. Monmouth next plays on Tuesday at Eureka at 7 p.m. followed by a Friday home MWC opener against Ripon.